Threading Q&A with Sumita Batra, CEO of Ziba Beauty
Threading is hot, hot, hot! You can’t walk into a mall without seeing a kiosk or two (or more!) with people always in line to get their brows waxed. However, in larger cities, there are studios that offer nothing but threading. We absolutely will not go back to waxing, as long as we have the option of threading our eyebrows. It’s amazing how our brows look after we’re done, but there are still so many people who haven’t tried threading because they just don’t know what it is and how it works. We spoke with top threading expert and CEO of Ziba Beauty, Sumita Batra, to break down the threading process for us. If you’re lucky enough to live in California, you can experience threading in one of her 14 studios, but for the rest of us, we get her advice in guiding us to threading and what to look for in a salon. How does threading differ from waxing in terms of results? Threading is the ideal method for shaping brows, as you can remove a single hair or a row of hairs with great precision. It is ideal for sensitive skin, as it is a gentle form of hair removal. With threading, you can remove hair from the follicle the instant the hair is visible, ensuring longer-lasting results. With waxing, you must wait until hair is a certain length before you can remove it, which for many clients means unruly brows between treatments. In the case of facial hair, threading is once again more precise and provides longer lasting results; whereas with waxing, you must let the hair grow to a certain length and it often means unwanted hair growth between treatments. How painful is threading? Any form of hair removal can cause discomfort and it varies largely based on the person. Of hair removal techniques, many believe threading causes the least discomfort, if any discomfort at all. For those of us who turn bright pink after waxing, how does threading compare? Should we still assume we’re going to be pink for a while? The thread during a threading service is gently touching the skin. If you have a tendency to turn pink, you may have a slight pink to your skin following threading, but versus waxing, most will find they are significantly less pink. I’ve read that threading lasts longer than waxing, but that doesn’t really make sense. In both removal practices, you’re removing hair from the root. How would threading last longer? Is that just a marketing ploy? The way the thread removes hair ensures each hair is removed from the follicle, which promotes the long-lasting results. With waxing, the wax must be applied to have full hold of the hair to pull from the follicle. Often, hair will break with waxing, so hair is not removed from the follicle, rather broken at the surface of the skin, which means unwanted hair will be visible quickly. (Ah! That totally makes sense!) We see the threading technician putting the string in her mouth. How sanitary is threading? The piece of thread the artist anchors in her mouth is for tension, to move the thread twists along the skin to remove hair. At Ziba, the thread anchor never, ever comes near the skin, or in contact with the skin. Part of our certification program is holding the thread, which helps build technique and ensures 100% sanitary practices. What should we look for when we’re picking a salon for threading? Are there any red flags we should note? Threading is fast becoming the primary choice for brow shaping, over any other form of hair removal. As this art becomes more popular, threading locations will increase in number. If you are not already trusting your brows and hair removal to Ziba, we recommend you seek a clean environment with proper threading furniture and sanitary tools. In our case, our clean, modern studios, offer a welcome environment and we uphold the highest standards of cleanliness and adhere strictly to state board standards. In many cases, we are doing more than the board requires when it comes to a sanitary experience. I know that I can’t get my brows waxed by someone who isn’t licensed, but what about threading? Is there any licensing? (And if not, isn’t that a little scary?) Threading is a very different hair removal process from waxing and does not require a license, though many of our threading artists are licensed estheticians. Ziba Artists are trained and certified in a 6-week Art of Threading curriculum at our Academy, so they are truly experts at the time of certification. No Artist is allowed to thread clients until they have passed the Ziba Academy curriculum. Part of our certification is shaping brows by facial structure, which is not part of a license program. We measure the face and recommend the best brow shape for every face shape! As an example, if you have a round face, you want your brows to have a little more of an arch to compliment and balance the roundness of the face. If you have a more square shaped face, you want a slightly more rounded brow to soften the look of your angular, squared facial features. There are ideal shapes for heart, oval, long and diamond face shapes as well! We shape over 1 million brows each year, so if you cannot visit a Ziba studio, then we recommend you ask questions and feel comfortable with the person and place you trust your brows with! Would you ever recommend someone choose another form of hair removal over threading? When it comes to brow shaping and hair removal from the face, we do not – threading is by far the most superior method. For the body, we do offer waxing in our Studios and recommend waxing for the arms, legs and bikini area – although we do have clients who prefer threading on their arms and legs due to the long-lasting results. For readers who live in
